Developing autonomous behaviors for a consumer robot to be near people in the home

Abstract

This paper describes the development of algorithms that decide when to move, where to move, and how to look for people in a home environment. We introduce a design framework as a tool to guide the development of a social robot to proactively be with people for companionship and assistance in the home. Through a series of experiments ranging from simulations to longitudinal A/B studies, we demonstrate how to utilize the design framework to help guide the evaluation and selection of solutions. We deployed our autonomous robot in a long-term in-situ study and found our proposed approach to be more capable of being co-present with its household members compared to a baseline approach. Conducted in an industry setting, our research approach departs from typical academic practices as the motivations are inherently different. We share our perspective on the differences of industry research when developing a social robot as a commercial product.